Referenee-Record oa FIVE LECTURES ON GENERAL SEMANTICS «BY COUNT ALFRED __ KORZYBSKI, GIVEN IN LOS ANGELES ON JUNE 2,3,4, 1959, FOR THE LOS ANGELES SOCIETY FOR GENERAL © SEMANTICS Contents G. S, SERIES - 1st lecture - 6/2 pem Pe tl 2nd lecture - 6/3 Pim Pe 6 3rd lecture - 6/4 aft. Pe 10 G. S. AND PSYCHOTHERAPY - 6/5 G. S. AND EDUCATION - 6/4 . BIBLIOGRAPHY oe ee omens Be 19 ADDENDA. Transcribed by Vocha Fiske Working Formula For General Semantics: "I DON'T KNOW, «= LET'S.) SEE!" = aKPreface-Note: This transcript aims: 4s to present an accurate yet condensed continuity; B, to act as study-notes for menbers of the series who requested that such an outline be made available; C, to contribute a source-document to the LASGS files. Single copies for LASGS members, 50¢; non-members, #1400 Address Lloyd Norain, LASGS secretary, 1041 So. Grammercy Dry, Los angeles Further, 1) The proparing of this ms. bespeaks the memory of Cora L. Williams. Miss Williams brought Count Korzybski to the Pacific Coast for his first seminars there in Science and Senity during the sumer of 1955, She founded and headod the Williams Institute and Junior College, 1917-37, Berkeley, California. 2) The Los Angeles Society for General Semantics acknowledges at this time the specific support of some sixty persons, members of AK's Ly 4, June 1989 seminar who, as students, made the serics possible. 3) It thanks also the members of its advisory council for this eventt Hanchester Boddy, Publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News and Evening News, Rayuond Haight, Police Commissioner for the City of Los angeles, Lowoll Ce Frost, M. De, Chairman of the Science Dept., Beverly Hills High School. 4) It values the assistance of its five active sponsors: Miss Mary Boynton, Head Librerian, Beverly Hills, lrs. George A+ Eastman, Wilshire Bell Club, Richard Kilpatrick for the Marian Hunter Bookshop, Donald McLean, Consulting Psychologist, Institute of Fonily Relations, Los Angeles, Conrad Fs Wedborg, Ficld Ropresontative for So. Calif., Bureau of Speech Correction, Calif, State Dept, of Education, 5) It records too the help of Suzanne Miller, Yvonne R+ Solomons, and Bartlett Whit, “* in regard to tho oxhibits of thc aveilable matorials of THE INSTITUTE OF GEWERAL Sk..«N'T1CS, CHICAGO, ILL., and other literature in the fiold. Vocha Fiske, Director Los Angeles Society for General Semantics, 7/391st lecture, 6/2 GENERAL = Sf (Approach:) What is it all about? You may have difficulty at 1. in understanding G, S. for 1) what I say is baby-stuff, too simple; 2) we have much Imowledge that wo do not apply, In G+ S, we have combined the Imowledge thet is current and abstracted method. The ele- mentary results of science are woll lmown, But what is the method bohind the results? How do we get what we kn This is one of tho most important questions for education, (Discussion:) The word semantics is from the Greek = to signify, to mean, Interplay of words with words is how we build meaning in the old way (intensional)., Can this bo donc? Wo, we have to start with a. Before wo can have a theory of wicaning, we jis that underlie all meaning. If you want to try a vicious oxperiment, teke some simple word or phraso that « friend has used and ask him what he means. ‘Then you will soon find out the moaning of what I've just said. This is very well kmown in mathamaties. I refer you to whet Keyser said in his liathomatice] Philosophy about logical miraclos and asses! have to investigate ten: Our worl: is strictly experimental. G. S. does not work as a theory of meaning but works as a general theory of values. How do wo act? By organismal ovaluations: You are to tndérstand that the term evaluation is a structural term, i. e. you cannot split emotion and intellect. Sanity can bo called propor ovaluation; unsanity (insanity is a legal torm only) misevaluation. You ask what do you moan by propor cvaluation? I answer: sciontific. Evaluation has to bo tested ompirically, if your predictions work out, you hove propor evaluction, 4 good example hero can be found in Eddington. In text=books you get horizontal pro= dictions; vertical ones work in living. Evaluation applies to all sci- onees and to your own affairs, Its standards aro predictability end experimentation, Predictability involvos factors of sanity. It saves the shock of sur~ prise. Nothing is more difficult than to discovor tho obvious. By oxamplo, soldicrs in the world war who oxpocted horrors, did not break down; soldicrs who did not expect horrors, did. Wo are revising daily all we know, Prodictability exists in mathematics. Wo learn wisdom in G. Sy from mathematics but we do not usc mathomaties. In application we cloar up tho old linguistic messes, Many problems aro no problems at all, just verbal fictions. Our religious training, so oducation, cannot exist without Aristotle. You Imow why, why, why? Do you really get any answors? A limited why is alright - this is what we havo in scicnec. Tho unlimited w splits us. We sce its results plainly in domentia praccox. (story here of taking 4 hours to oxplain to a studont (pationt); "You think with your toc as with your brain . . . look at your toe and fool botter!") ny Ga S. deals with living reactions. (Then followod various cxamples of ‘ovalWation, including a story about Napolcon end Jesus Christ, one to illustrate that if you feol insfultcd, you are infantile, and also some comments on Hitler.) You imow “ticin Kampf"? Sovorol answers have bocn written to i Lowis Mumford recently wrote one. He calls it Mon Must det, He tries to defend democracy. Romomber I am not alking politics; I an talling about a goneral type of humon reactions “le